Buy or build?

[techjunkie]

Well, now the time has come! I'm going to throw out my old faithful Dell Dimension 8200 and buy or build a new one.

That's the question, should I buy a complete built package from Dell, HP or someone else or should I build my own system?

I've surfed around a lot and I'm beginning to think that "building" is the best choice. If I look at ready-built system there is always something that doesn't suits me - the CPU, the graphics card, amount of memory and so on.

If I build my system I was thinking about a configuration like this;

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz Socket LGA775, 4MB, BOXED with fan

Motherboard
Asus P5B DLX/WIFI-AP, P965, Socket-775, ATX, 2xGbLAN, SATAII, Firewire, PCI-Ex16
OR
Asus Commando, P965, Socket-775, 4xPCI, ATX, 2xGbLAN, SATAII, Firewire, PCI-Ex16

Graphic Card
Asus GeForce 7600GS 512MB DDR2 Silent, PCI-Express, Tv-Out/DVI-I/HDTV, Retail
OR
Asus GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3, HDCP, PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail
OR
Asus GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3, HDCP, PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, Tv-Out, 320bit

Memory
Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5 Kit w/two matched CM2X1024A-6400 Dimm's

HDD
Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

and some more stuff of course... but what do you think of the configuration? Is it any good? Anyone that have some experience of the above components?

Depending on which graphic card I choose, I'll guess the price (bought in Sweden) will stay at approximately €1100 - €1400.

[Bonne_den_kule]

"Asus GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3, HDCP, PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail" is quite noise.

[techjunkie]

"Asus GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3, HDCP, PCI-Express, 2xDVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail" is quite noise.

Thanks, and it is a big difference in price between the graphic cards;

* Asus GeForce 7600GS 512MB DDR2 (without a fan) €120
* Asus GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 €240
* Asus GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 €390

I'm not a GFX freak and it's enough if I can play WOW, BF2 or Broken Sword 4/5 and edit homemade DVD:s with "good" speed.

[techjunkie]

Another question. Does any german guy (or gal) on this forum know a good (cheap) german Computer Store with Internet site?

I have checked prices between Sweden and Germany and it seems as I can get the stuff €200 - €300 cheaper from Germany?!?

Is Pixmania the best and cheapest german site?

[Tipperton]

I have always prefered building a system instead of buying a pre-built one.

Main reasons are:

• You can hand pick the exact configuration you want
• No custom parts so replacement/upgrading if needed is easy

[Tranquil]

You should build your new PC but I would strongly advice you to wait at least one month.

Intel gives new prices to their CPU in April 2007. Decrease of 40% on their CPUs. Another thingie is, that ATI/ AMD announces their new GPU R600 on 23/24 April. The new price for the R600 should not more then 399$ and this card should be faster then the GeForce8800 by Nvidia.

I have also planed to build a new pc, but I will wait until March for sure.

Cheers
Mike

[Tranquil]

Another question. Does any german guy (or gal) on this forum know a good (cheap) german Computer Store with Internet site?

I have checked prices between Sweden and Germany and it seems as I can get the stuff €200 - €300 cheaper from Germany?!?

Is Pixmania the best and cheapest german site?

www.norskit.de is a cheap site, but you should also check www.hoh.de (home of hardware)

[Tipperton]

I have also planed to build a new pc, but I will wait until March for sure.

I'm also planning a new system build but I'm looking at more towards the end of the year to make it a Christmas gift to myself...

[nco2k]

never buy at norskit. there are way too many pissed custumers. its the worst place you could order something.

c ya,
nco2k

[Tranquil]

never buy at norskit. there are way too many pissed custumers. its the worst place you could order something.

c ya,
nco2k

Never had problems with them. The service was more then fine. Fast delivery, good online status reports. I'm sure you can also get bad experiences on other suppliers.

@Tipperton:

Building a PC in christmas time? Why? Everything is more expensive then in the known summer-hole.

[nco2k]

not this kind of bad, google for: "norskit finger weg" or "norskit beschwerde" etc. or search for user opinions at geizhals.at/de or idealo.de.

c ya,
nco2k

[Kaeru Gaman]

a really good store is PC-Spezialist
There's a local shop in my town, I made good experiences with them.
but I don't know if they deliver to other EU-States....

stores like that will build your PC at your demands, not that much more expensive than their regular offers.
a complete PC has the advantage that any disfunctionality will handled via guarantee,
whilst with a self-build you only get refunds for really broken parts,
disfunctionality-service is to be payed extra.

nowadays it's quite difficult to combine the componets the way they bring best results.
of course you can do it, but you need to read a lot about hardware-combination in magazines in advance.

[Tipperton]

Building a PC in christmas time? Why? Everything is more expensive then in the known summer-hole.

That may be true for pre-built systems, but I've found Christmas doesn't have any affect on component prices.

[Tranquil]

Building a PC in christmas time? Why? Everything is more expensive then in the known summer-hole.

That may be true for pre-built systems, but I've found Christmas doesn't have any affect on component prices.

You may be right in some parts. I took a look on some charts of a Geforce8800 and a E6600 CPU which only shows little peaks on christmas days:


First chart shows the CPU and second the GPU.

I also agree to Kaeru. I also made good experiences with a local hardware dealer in my city which is cheap too. But most times he needs to order the components as well, so it takes time too.

[Kaeru Gaman]

@Tranquil

interesting diagrams.
in both there is a high in march followed by a fall.
I think that should be the CeBit-Effect.....
a lot of component prizes just fall after the CeBit fair.

so there could be relevant differences in other countries...